Design group United Nude have taken a number of recognisable objects and created simplified versions, including this Lamborghini, made up of a series of triangulated planes.

The Lo Res Project initially uses custom software that creates a computer model by scanning a series of 3D points from the original object.

The software can then vary the density of these points to create different levels of abstraction from which the most appealing is chosen and developed into a real life object.

The original objects processed so far include a Lamborghini Countach, Verner Panton chair, the Statue of Liberty and a high-heeled shoe.

United Nude, founded by Dutch architect Rem D Koolhaas and British shoemaker Galahad Clark, produced the program in collaboration with American software developer INUS Technology.

Here's some more from the designers:

UNITED NUDE ‘LO RES’

Lo Res Intro

United Nude Lo Res (low resolution) is an innovative design method using computer software to automatically create design options to choose from. The first United Nude Lo Res products such as the Lo Res Shoe are available at United Nude stores worldwide.

Resolution of Design

Resolution means the amount of information per area; most commonly used to describe two-dimensional (2D) data, like images in dots per inch (DPI).

The United Nude Lo Res Project is in three-dimensional (3D) resolutions: each object can be described by a series of 3D points and when these are connected, triangles appear. In a high 3D resolution (high density of points) the triangles are small and the shape appears smooth.

As the 3D resolution is lowered (less density of points and therefore bigger triangles), the object becomes more and more fragmented, changing its character in the process.

Original Resolution

The Lo Res Project began two years ago. Early explorations with a new 3D scanner in the United Nude design studio, stimulated the idea, and almost as simple as an exercise from a software tutorial, the process began. The first object to be ‘Lo Res’d’ was a wine glass.

We tested the scan files in different 3D software and traced the scans manually in different 3D resolutions.

From this ‘series’ of resolutions one can be chosen and used as the base for a new design.

Forward Resolution

Happy with the beautiful ‘new’ designs more and more objects went through the Lo Res procedure.

Some objects already Lo-Res’d include: a Shoe, a Lamborghini Countach, a Verner Pantone chair and a series of generic vodka glasses with a matching Absolut vodka bottle case. Some of these products are in the process of development.

The Future

United Nude is currently developing the Lo Res design method with INUS Technology, the makers of Rapidform software, the world’s leading reverse design software.

Together with INUS Technology, United Nude is developing software that can be applied for Lo Res and other design applications allowing users to benefit from more automated and semi-automated design.

I suspect real 3D modellers who make low polygon models for computer games and such will be laughing at how badly they represent a Lamborghini

L

Can we stop with the “process design” and make some real choices. Letting a computer design using Numbers is not a choice. When are designers going to be creative again?

http://deleted amsam

I like them when they use fewer points and become more abstract. The shoe is too much like a shoe IMO.

s

pretty cool, but makes me think about…. rhino rebuild degree 1?

jesse james

If that car was real I’d buy it

kimbo

these pumps would look stunning…on the T-X (Terminator 3)

http://www.eatas.com.au Thiefsie

Did Rem suddenly play an old game like Quake/Thief and realise that low poly models can look good?

Just….. wow.

Jill Chow

I think, from a design perspective, that this idea of 3D simplification is interesting in that the more simple objects appear more brilliant to the eye.

y. herscovitz

Great stuff !

Abhi

ruined the lambo , totally !

mean deviation

@ L
the computer doesn’t turn itself on, open a program choose subject matter and input its own data.
It is really ignorant when people without computer knowledge assume that it is as easy as pressing a button and everything just appears magically. A program has to be defined and coded which involves an incredible amount of decision making. There is work involved and it is done and decided by humans.

use the new autodesk products, I was doing this the entire first week to all my 3D models, it was fun but then I had to learn how to do something practical opposed to being amazed at cool new features,

as for custom software, BS. This is literally a one button feature, no coding, decission making and the only thing incredible is how people with a moderate knowledge of computers get amazed enough to document and publish this.

However good work for the manufacturers – now thats hard work.

Ashish

The back of HTC-Touch diamond (first generation) is also very similar in form, material and colour… Wonder where they (both HTC & Rem) got the idea from.

This could have been cool if the process caught some “essence” of the Lamborghini design. Unfortunately simply triangulating and reducing the polygon count does not do that. It does kinda the oposite…

Grace

If you go to the Lo Res website http://www.loresproject.com then you can see all the other examples. For all people that think that this was simply done automatically by software without any manual work,… get real. Also this was not done to win a originality award, but simply to make some cool stuff and have some design fun. Instead of sharing your lame playahating skills, even though some of you are really good at it (but it aint that interesting), share your design skills and show us some cool stuff too! I know these guys (UN) and think the United Nude Lo Res project is cool. I saw the Lambo sculpture in the UN store in NYC and it is beautiful.

http://www.eatas.com.au Thiefsie

This is virtually one command in 3D Studio to do, or if you want to do it manually and a bit more controlled you just weld selected vertices.

Absolute piece of cake that anyone could do. So disappointing that frankly the majority of people who have never been exposed to 3D modeling wouldn’t realise this and think it is cool.

Game artists have been doing this for years……

http://www.dieangewandte.at Paris-Moi.

Listen, I don’t want to burst any bubbles, but this is really mediocre-

The only way a project like this is considered good, is if people have a ‘low-res’ knowledge of software, drawing, modeling. This is the kind of crap everyone thinks they are a genius for doing after a one week of learning about a 3D software. Like: “Ha, Ha- wouldn’t this be funny, if I simplified my triangulated mesh WAY down ?!”

One big question I have is, why would you need a custom software to do this? Any 3d package can simplify triangulated surfaces- Alias, Rhino, Maya, etc.

I don’t say this all to be a bummer- but I think that the way that we as ‘avant-guarde’, well educated, designers speak about our processes, should demonstrate that we understand the basics of software, even when we are hijacking them and forcing them to behave in a way that wasn’t intended.

Statements like this reveal how little this guy understands about software – “[E]ach object can be described by a series of 3D points and when these are connected, triangles appear.” …Er.. Triangles don’t ‘appear’, dude.

Triangulation is one way of working with a surface- Subdivisions? Nurbs? Polys? It freaks me out when someone who is an influential person with a degree in Architecture, talks as if they don’t know the first thing about the tools. It’s even weirder when this is revealed at the moment they are “questioning” those tools. Can’t we do new interesting things with out sounding like we are in intro to FormZ (circa 1999) class?

http://www.livearchitecture.net Luis Fraguada

I’ve been using CAD for about half of my life. In the last 10 years I’ve moved from 3d modelling to scripting and programming custom tools. Surface subdivision and triangulation algorithms are really quite interesting. While the comments on how easy this is to do in standard packages are more or less true, I still dig these! The topic of resolution has always been relevant in one way or another. I dunno maybe I never grew out of seeing my mesh models rougher or smoother!

Ouch!

Sorry for being a ratface up there. Had a bad haircut-day and all that… It’s cool when people do stuff like this too, and the lambo is pretty nice after all. Looked more closely at the pics now.. And as Luis suggests, more advanced isn’t always necessarily more cool.

Haim Katz

I vote more people like Luis Fraguada and much less of the annoying idiots who can’t say anything nice about something that is obviously more about aesthetics than about being super geeky.

http://www.facebook.com/liadl1 Liad Achiezer Levi

crazy shoes but no more i see her….. i ask myself why you need a special software to simplifying??
simplifying building we have ….